


I T S / M E

by tosagen



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: FNAF references, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-09
Updated: 2017-01-09
Packaged: 2018-09-15 22:15:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9259808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tosagen/pseuds/tosagen
Summary: It's only two a.m.





	

When Josh got the job as a security guard, he thought he’d be strolling around the shop floor, intimidating teenagers and staring down potential shoplifters. Instead he’s been stuck with the graveyard shift in the camera booth, watching racks of clothes and mannequins sitting silently in the dark, illuminated only by the sickly glow of the emergency exit signs. Josh cycles through the cameras on autopilot, chin propped up on his hand and struggling to keep his eyes open. When his chin slips from his hand, he jerks himself up hard enough that he pinches a nerve in his neck.

“Jeez,” he huffs, leaning away from the monitor and stretching his arms above his head. He yawns and checks his watch, scowling when he sees that it’s only two a.m. He still has four hours to go before the morning guard comes to relieve him. Still frowning, he starts to flick through the cameras again, barely paying attention until he flips past the men’s section and has to go back.

There’s a mannequin sitting on the edge of one of the displays, at the feet of the other upright mannequins, and Josh mouths _what?_ as he leans closer to the screen. He could have sworn that there was no seated mannequin there before, but he knows for a fact that there’s no one in the department store. He’s required to do a top to bottom sweep to make sure everything’s all locked up and there’s no one left in the building before he settles into the security booth for the night, and the entire place was empty, this he knows.

After a minute or two he sighs and rationalizes that he must have overlooked it in his exhaustion and continues his cycle. Nothing else has changed, no sensors have been tripped, so clearly it’s all in his head.

When he comes back to the men’s section camera, the seated mannequin is gone.

Josh jolts forward in his chair and rapidly flips through the other cameras. He knows that there must be someone in the store, there’s no other explanation, but how? All the camera feeds are unchanged and the only blind spots are right outside the security booth, which is at the other end of the building from the men’s section.  
“Where’d you go,” Josh mutters, muscles tensing. As if on cue, the next camera he clicks into has a shadowy figure standing in the corner, almost indiscernible from the darkness around them. Josh pauses, straining to make out any details. He thinks they’re wearing a hoodie pulled up over their head but before he sees anything else the camera blurs with static and when it clears the figure is gone. They’re not in any of the neighbouring cameras, or in any other cameras, so Josh picks up his phone and dials his manager.

He keeps flicking through the cameras as it rings, and when Scott finally picks up with an unhappy grunt Josh says, “There’s someone here, I don’t know how but they’re here and I can’t find them on the cameras, what do I do?”

Scott’s silent for a moment before he says, “Just stay in the booth.”

“But what do I do about them?” Josh presses; he’s found them again, on a completely different floor with their back to the camera.

“Nothing,” Scott says quickly. “Don’t try and interact with them. Is your door closed?”

“Um. Yes.”

Sounds come down the phone like Scott is shuffling papers. “Keep it closed. Just try to keep an eye on him, ignore anything that happens outside your door and you’ll be fine.” 

A pause. “What’s your insurance like?”

“Who’s _him_?” Josh says shrilly. “What’s he doing here?!”

“Don’t worry about it,” Scott says dismissively. “Just keep the door closed and everything’ll be fine.”

“ _What_?!” Josh yelps, but Scott’s already hung up. Josh tosses his phone onto the desk with a growl and looks back at the monitor. He jerks back in the chair and almost bites his tongue in half; there’s a face filling the whole screen, staring right at him. 

“Fuck,” Josh breathes. The face smiles, the camera fills with static, and then he’s gone. Josh does nothing, just stares at the screen and tries to correct his shallow breathing, but then the screen fizzles up with static again and two words flash up for a millisecond.

I T S B L U R R Y

Someone knocks on the door.

**Author's Note:**

> It's hilarious how I'll write two things in one night and then completely lose my grasp of the English language for a month


End file.
